The 2017 Report of the Davis UWC Scholars Program
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UNITING THE WORLD Davis UWC Scholars The 2017 Report of the Davis UWC Scholars Program “I’m trying to stimulate leaders of the future to make a difference through the grounding in education that I’m helping to give them. When I started my business career, I took my own history lesson from Princeton: I learned how leaders make a difference, in their countries, in their centuries. So I invested in leaders, and that investment helped me to be successful. …I’m looking to invest again in leaders of the future.” SHELBY M.C. DAVIS Co-founder and Philanthropist “We strive to build critical masses of globally minded young men and women on American campuses, to foster highly personal relationships between outstanding Americans and non-Americans, and to seed global networks. These networks can serve a higher calling of international understanding and common purpose among future leaders in all walks of life in our world.” PHILIP O. GEIER Co-founder and Executive Director On the cover: Davis UWC Scholars at the University of Oklahoma. UNITING THE WORLD Davis United World College Scholars PROGRAM 2017 Annual Report Private Philanthropy Supporting International Understanding through Education CONTENTS Presidents’ Perspectives College of the Atlantic . 62. Northwestern University . 65 . The Program Brown University . 66. Uniting the World Luther College . 69 . Duke University . 70. Why the Davis United World College Bennington College . 74 Scholars Program? . 5 Macalester College . 77 . The Program by the Numbers Middlebury College . 78 Timeline of Program Growth . 8 Smith College . 81 How the Program Works . 8 Clark University . 82 152 Home Countries — 2,697 Current Scholars . 10 Skidmore College . 85 Distribution of Scholars by World Region . 11 St . Lawrence University . 86 94 Partner Colleges and Universities . 12 Pomona College . 89. Number of Scholars by Class Year . 14 Wellesley College . 90. Winner of the 2016–17 Davis Cup . 17 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . .93 . The Davis Vision and Its Impact Oberlin College . 94 . Shelby Davis Gives His Own Thanks . 19 University of Richmond . 97 DUWC Scholars Win Schwarzman Scholarships . 23 University of Pennsylvania . 98. Colorado College . 101 . Philanthropists Honor Roll . 24 Trinity College . 102 Where the Scholars Come From . 27 Ringling College of Art and Design . .105 . The UWC Schools . 28 Williams College . 106 . Sources of the Davis UWC Scholars . 29 Colby College . 109 University of Florida . 110 . Acknowledgements and Credits . 128 Lake Forest College . 113 Agnes Scott College . 114 . The Scholars University of Oklahoma . 117 The Class of 2017 . 30 Whitman College . 118 . Scripps College . 121 Undergraduate Classes Class of 2018 . 60 Graduates in Action Class of 2019 . 83 To Broaden and Deepen Language Learning . 33 Class of 2020 . 105 Accelerating Start-ups Around the World . 41 Undergraduates in Action An Artist Shares the Energy of Creating . 49 New Solutions for Swaziland Farmers . 36 A Rhodes Scholar Eyes Smarter Technology . 55 Exploring Impacts of Chinese Foreign Aid . 44 An African-Styled Path to Success . 59 A “Magic” Solution for African Bus Riders . 52 Designing the Digital Experience . 63 Working to Share the Power of Opportunity . 64 Spotlighting the Decline of Coral Reefs . 68 A Syrian Speaks Up for Refugees . 75 Sharing Today’s Art and Music of Mexico . 80 A Young Egyptian “Empowers and Inspires” . 84 Helping South Africans Stay on HIV Meds . 91 Passing Along a Passion for Learning . 95 Inspiring Learners and Leaders in Africa . 96 A Scholar Pursues Global Understanding . 100 Seeking the Earliest Signs of Alzheimer’s . 107 Amplifying Global Voices in the Arts . 111 Influencing Public Policy in Peru . 112 Building on a Global Student Exchange . 116 Building Waste Solutions in India . 119 Davis United World College Scholars Program 3 UNITING THE WORLD 4 Uniting the World Why the Davis United World College Scholars Program? By Philip O. Geier, Ph.D., Executive Director he 21st century has brought a changed and ever-changing global Tlandscape. Challenges, threats, and uncertainties haunt humanity; the pace is quickening, and there are no clear or easy solutions. Information is abundant and readily accessible, yet knowledge and true wisdom seem elusive. It is in this context that the Davis United World College (UWC) Scholars Program invests extensively, and with confidence, in the promise and future possibilities of selected scholars from around the world, and in their education at partner colleges and universities across the U.S. The Davis UWC Scholars Program was co-founded in 2000 by Shelby and Gale Davis and Amy and Phil Geier (shown here philanthropist Shelby M. C. Davis and international educator Philip right to left) together celebrating 20 years of collaboration and partnerships in philanthropy. O. Geier. It has grown since then to become the largest privately funded international scholarship program in the world for undergraduates. The program’s strategic objective is to advance international understanding through education. It is built on two assumptions: » that promising future leaders from a broad range of cultures should be afforded greater educational opportunities and enhanced global networking; and » these educational opportunities should take place in a variety of U.S. colleges and universities, in the belief that, by becoming more diverse and globally engaged, these American schools will be more effective learning communities for all their students. Davis United World College Scholars Program 5 The program provides grants to selected partner U.S. colleges and universities in support of need- based scholarships for American and foreign scholars. Students who are eligible for this support have gained admission on their own merit to these schools, having successfully completed their final two years of high school at a group of international schools called United World Colleges, which teach to the International Baccalaureate diploma. The growing UWC movement now has schools located in the United States, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Swaziland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Since their founding in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, these UWC schools have provided educational opportunities to outstanding students from over 175 countries, representing all regions of the world. UWC students are selected in their home countries by indigenous, voluntary committees charged to find the most promising teenagers eager to pursue their education and leadership and cross- cultural skills in a global context. Under the leadership of former UWC-USA president Phil Geier, the Davis UWC Scholars Program now supports the education of almost 2,700 UWC graduates on 94 American campuses. Headquartered at Middlebury College, the program partners with these colleges and universities to meet the financial needs of these promising scholars throughout their four-year undergraduate degree studies. The program has five principal goals: » provide scholarship support for exemplary and promising students, from a wide range of countries and cultures, who have absorbed the passion and mission of their UWC schools for building international understanding; 6 Uniting the World » build meaningful clusters of these globally aware scholars within the undergraduate populations of selected partner colleges and universities across the U.S.; » help transform the American undergraduate experience through international diversity and intercultural exchange — as much for the large majority of traditional American students as for the scholars; » leverage the value of this philanthropic initiative — to the long-term benefit of all learners and their teachers — to contribute to strategic shifts in institutional thinking, and to bring greater resources to the effort; and » contribute proactively to the well-being of our volatile, highly interdependent world by expecting our scholars and those with whom they interact to take personal responsibility for helping shape a better world. The Davis UWC Scholars Program is at once practical and inspirational. It reflects the huge potential of private philanthropy to promote international understanding in dynamic, expanding ways, through educational institutions that share its strategic vision and are committed to building greater opportunities for global engagement for all their students. In essence, the program is about using philanthropic leadership to leverage additional support for transformative impact on individuals, institutions, and the wider world. Davis United World College Scholars Program 7 Seventeen Years of Program Growth 5 Schools 43 Scholars 31 Countries 201 Scholars 586 Scholars 1,274 Scholars 2,306 Scholars 117 Scholars 309 Scholars 923 Scholars 1,720 Scholars 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 How This Works 1 2 Since 1962, thousands of young people from 175 nations In 2000, the Davis United World College Scholars Program have been selected by committees in their home countries began providing scholarship grants to a pilot group of to complete their last two years of high school at one of American colleges and universities to support UWC 16 United World College schools . UWC schools are in graduates who matriculated at these schools . These pilot Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, China, Costa schools — Colby College, College of the Atlantic, Middlebury Rica, Germany, Hong Kong, India,